Pinterest head of design on accessibility through better design

August de los Reyes is the head of design and research at Pinterest. In this episode, he shares how a personal life event forever altered his outlook on design, what inclusive design means to him, and why diverse teams have the best shot at combatting disabilities and exclusion.

According to de los Reyes, design is fundamental. He believes that design literacy should be taught in schools across the world to help instil a sense of design from an early age. This will lead to a generation of more problem-solvers.

Referencing the World Health Organization’s recent definition change of disability, de los Reyes says “disability is actually an outcome of design.” Using objects such as the telephone, keyboard and remote control as examples, he explains how designing for a subset of disabilities can actually have a positive influence on the user base as a whole.